You should invest in Silver to either diversify your portfolio as a hedge against economic, political or monetary crises, and/or, to increase your wealth by financially gaining from increasing gold prices.
Silver demand is driven by two main factors, its rich history as a monetary instrument and its industrial use. Throughout time, silver coins were used for daily purchases of smaller value. Its industrial consumption and thus price are affected by particular industries that require silver in stages of production.
The desire to buy silver has risen exponentially in the past several years where, during recent volatile economic times, demand has outstripped the ability for the recognized world mints and refineries to keep up with huge volume orders. To a lot of investors silver is a precious metal that is a lot more accessible in terms of price than gold; moreover, silver certainly has the potential to pass gold on percentage price increase in the years to come.
Silver and gold are historically known as stores of value and hedges in uncertain economic times, but as silver usage in coinage has diminished worldwide, its uses have changed. Unlike gold, silver is primarily used today as an industrial commodity, and demand for its industrial applications has grown consistently for the past three decades. Silver possesses unique characteristics including strength, ductility, malleability, electrical and thermal conductivity, as well as its ability to withstand extreme temperatures.
Aside from its industrial qualities, silver also possesses microbicidal and antibacterial properties, making it a popular choice in the healthcare industry for the treatment of wounds and burns using silver-infused bandages that promote healing. And, due its antiseptic potential, silver is also showing indications as a potential “Silver Bullet” in the fight against the spread of disease and infection.
Worldwide demand for silver has exceeded mine generation every year since 1990, depleting the aboveground stores of silver. New industrial uses for silver as an electrical component with greater conductivity than copper, and as an ingredient in new super adhesives, will further strain waning supplies in the future.
Government stockpiles
The USA was once the largest holder of silver in the world, and unloaded billions of ounces of silver onto the world market for decades, keeping silver prices much lower than where they realistically should be today. However, the US government’s silver supplies are now dwindling, forcing the U.S. government to now buy back silver to replenish its stores.
Industrial consumption
Investment analysts estimate that more than 95% of all the silver ever mined throughout history has already been consumed by industry and lost forever. In 1900, there was approximately 12 billion ounces of above-ground, refined silver, but that figure has currently dropped to roughly 300 million ounces. That means the current industrial use exceeds available new supplies – suggesting an increase in value is imminent.
